"Any Dream Will Do": How The "Joseph"-Musical Opened My Eyes

My mother had always wanted to see the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Of course, in Germany in the 90s, the last time the show ran there, it had a different name. And Joseph, the biblical son of Jacob, had blond hair and blue eyes because: 90s. Political correctness or representation was not an issue then. But money was, for us. We dreamed about going to see musicals like Joseph dreamed about his coat. But before we could make it, the show ended there and 25 years went by before the opportunity presented itself again. This year, for six weeks only, the show was playing London Palladium. On my mother's birthday. No longer too poor to see a show, I got her a flight to London and see the show on her 66th birthday. As the show opened with the song my mother had been singing for 25 years, we both couldn't hold the tears back. The reasons for that were complex…

When I was eleven, I came to London for the first time with my separating parents. I was a child and blown away. I had never seen anything like this place and didn't understand what people were saying. London was "the world" to me and I was determined to live in it. One day, I dreamed, I'd live there. Spoiler alert: I did it. But then, with my schoolbook three sentences of English, feeling like a whole new world was opening up with the new language, couldn’t have dared to dream. No kidding, English opened up a couple doors for me. I mean, I’m not blogging in German right now, eh?

My mom and I discussed the journey it took to get there; there being HERE, grown up, steady and lucky - in London, the place I always dreamed about. Much like Joseph in the story, my way also led to Egypt. When the pyramids made up the backdrop of the London Palladium, I choked up a bit. I wouldn't have seen the connection then but in order to have the future I have now, in London above all places, those two years in Egypt were essential. Looking at the backdrop and feeling grateful for everything that part of my life enabled me to do was quite the reaction, and most likely one that not everyone in the audience would have. In the last couple of years I have learned to look back at that time in Cairo and really appreciate it which, God knows, was impossible to do while there.

Joseph did all this talking about dreaming, ya know. Not the kind of dream I had last night where I took five different buses to get to the airport this morning fearing to be late. What I heard in the song "Any Dream Will Do" was encouragement: dare to dream big. I agree that it takes courage to dream. Once the dream is there, and it doesn't come true, the only outcome is disappointment. You'd think there is no downside of dreaming and it’s regular practice for little kids. But it couldn't be; it's scary. I dreamed really big as a child. I saw myself as a Hollywood star actress winning the Oscar one day. Why not me, I thought. But dreaming is different from believing, and I forced myself to do both. I was disappointed so many times. So many of my dreams did not come true. But the ones that did are jaw-dropping.

Now, I am not a Hollywood star actress. I am also not living in the Central Valley in California where many a dream of mine was set (I know, sad!). I am also no longer a journalist which was my dream for most of my adult life. But both of these dreams evolved, while the initial one I had as a child never did: be a woman, with success of my own, in a worldly city like London; have a career that allows you to tell stories; live a life that makes you proud on your deathbed (if they don’t come up with immortality until then, that is, in which case, be rich enough to buy immortality). Granted, we are not at the end of my life, hopefully, and I have a bunch of other dreams I am currently trying to make come true. But our tears when the musical started playing were not coming from memories, but from appreciation; appreciation of a trivial thing as simple as being grateful for being able to finally see this musical which, really, is anything BUT trivial. It’s a huge blessing and our lives are full of them.

As an eleven year old in London, we also saw a musical. I remember the organisational team saying that it was expensive but my mom said that “when you’re in London, you just have to do that”. The money was invested, and we saw “RENT”. I remember nothing. I didn’t even know what it was about, didn’t understand a word. The music and dancing seemed nice though. As my mom and I were sitting in our seats at the London Palladium last week seeing “Joseph”, I remembered that. What venue was “RENT” playing at in 2001, I wondered. I had to laugh a bit when I looked up its Wikipedia page: the musical had been playing at Shaftesbury Theatre. Next to Shaftesbury Theatre, there would have had to be a construction site where they built my future office in 2001. Today, I look at that theatre from my desk every day, but neither my office, nor my company, never mind my job, existed yet. “Any dream will do,'' he said. No shit…